Abstract
The current study aimed to evaluate the application effects of the preactivated Lactobacillus buchneri and urea on the fermentative characteristics, chemical composition and aerobic stability in corn silages. The design was completely randomized, in a 6 × 5 factorial arrangement, with six types of additive and five opening times. The treatments consisted of corn silage; corn silage with freeze-dried inoculant; corn silage with freeze-dried inoculant +1.0% urea; corn silage with activated inoculant; corn silage with activated inoculant +1.0% urea, and corn silage with 1.0% urea. Populations of lactic acid bacteria stabilized at the 70th day, with average values of 8.91 and 9.15 log cfu/g for corn silage with freeze-dried inoculant +1.0% urea and corn silage with freeze-dried inoculant, respectively. In contrast, the silages without additives showed significantly lower values of 7.52 log cfu/g forage at the 70th day. The silages with urea (isolated or associated with the inoculant) increased the total nitrogen content. The maximum temperature values were highest in the corn silages without additives, indicating that these silages were more prone to deterioration. The use of Lactobacillus buchneri activated proved to be more efficient in improving the fermentative profile of corn silages than the freeze-dried inoculant. The use of urea as an additive reduced the losses and improved the nutritional value and aerobic stability of corn silages. Additionally, the combination of Lactobacillus buchneri activated and urea may be used as a technique to improve the fermentative profile, chemical composition and aerobic stability of corn silages.
Highlights
Silages that have desirable fermentation, with emphasis on lactic acid (LA) production, maintain their nutritional value with minimum losses, which promote a positive effect on animal production [1]and reduce environmental pollution [2].Corn (Zea mays L.) is a species that stands out for silage production because of its high nutritional value, suitable dry matter (DM) content, high concentration of fermentable carbohydrates, low buffering capacity and high digestibility [3]
The urea dose was determined based on the dry matter (DM) of the forage
Losses during the fermentation process of the silages can be quantified through the disappearance of the dry matter or energy
Summary
Silages that have desirable fermentation, with emphasis on lactic acid (LA) production, maintain their nutritional value with minimum losses, which promote a positive effect on animal production [1]. Corn (Zea mays L.) is a species that stands out for silage production because of its high nutritional value, suitable dry matter (DM) content, high concentration of fermentable carbohydrates, low buffering capacity and high digestibility [3]. According to [8], the corn plant may have 3 to 5 log cfu/g epiphytic yeasts and the low concentration of fermentation products with antifungal capacity compromises the silage’s aerobic stability [9,10]. The inoculation of the forage during the ensiling process is a technique which reduces the growth of undesirable microorganisms and minimizes losses by secondary fermentations. Previous research indicated that inoculation during the forage’s ensiling process is beneficial to the fermentation process of silages, [11,12,13,14] as well as for the aerobic stability
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